{"id":263753,"date":"2026-04-12T08:30:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T08:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/263753\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T08:30:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T08:30:20","slug":"long-beach-high-school-juniors-awarded-major-environmental-grant-herald-community-newspapers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/263753\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach High School juniors awarded major environmental grant | Herald Community Newspapers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brianna Amey and Ailah Castro, two juniors at Long Beach High School,<\/a> secured a $100,000 grant\u00a0from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation\u00a0on March 31.\u00a0The funding, obtained\u00a0in collaboration with the Long Beach Latino Civic Association<\/a>,\u00a0will be used to continue their research\u00a0project\u00a0on soil,\u00a0water\u00a0and air quality around the bay area and\u00a0along\u00a0Long Beach\u2019s\u00a0south shore.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cUnderstanding how we can improve our environment\u00a0is the goal,\u201d Helen Dorado-Alessi, president\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0Latino\u00a0civic association,\u00a0said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Amey and Castro\u2019s\u00a0curiosities\u00a0sparked after being approached by\u00a0Cody\u00a0Onufrock<\/a>, an environmental\u00a0systems and\u00a0society teacher\u00a0at the high school. Amey said she jumped at the opportunity because\u00a0she saw it as a meaningful environmental effort, noting\u00a0how\u00a0data\u00a0collected since\u00a02016 could influence further changes. For\u00a0Castro,\u00a0it was her interest in the environment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI love nature,\u201d Castro said. \u201cI saw\u00a0the project as an opportunity to\u00a0explore\u00a0our community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Part of their research revolved around the Long Beach Incinerator on Water Street, which was demolished back in 2008.\u00a0Later that decade, an Environmental Site\u00a0Assessment\u00a0indicated the presence of\u00a0semi-volatile organic compounds and metal concentrations at the demolition site and\u00a0the immediate surrounding area.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Working together with the girls, the civic association\u00a0aims to use the grant money for\u00a0air monitoring systems by the Long Beach Bridge, as well as by the ocean. They\u00a0will look\u00a0to add water\u00a0monitoring equipment for\u00a0a section of\u00a0the Town of Hempstead\u2019s Water Conservation network that runs through the city and Lido Beach.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Onufrock has partnered with the\u00a0Latino\u00a0civic association since 2009 and has worked on their Miyawaki forest \u2014 a type of tree-growing method \u2014 as well as beach cleanups. \u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity for us to do something that protects the environment of Long Beach,\u201d Onufrock said,\u00a0noting his interest in environmental science.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For\u00a0more than 30 years,\u00a0the Latino civic association\u00a0has\u00a0made\u00a0efforts to empower those in need, becoming\u00a0a\u00a0community staple\u00a0through\u00a0relief efforts, providing essential and nonessential services, and being a support system for\u00a0its members.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

With the support of the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation,\u00a0they\u00a0aim to\u00a0reduce\u00a0the adverse effects of pollution by implementing targeted interventions that improve air and water quality, enhance public health\u00a0and promote sustainable practices.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dorado-Alessi said that a high concentration of Hispanic families\u00a0live\u00a0near the bayfront. She noted the importance of keeping them informed, while joining in on infrastructure projects reshaping the city\u2019s north shore.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make sure the Hispanic community understands\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0going on\u00a0while focusing on an issue anyone in Long Beach can benefit from,\u201d\u00a0Dorado-Alessi said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brianna Amey and Ailah Castro, two juniors at Long Beach High School, secured a $100,000 grant\u00a0from the New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[115680,115679,131,115681,133,132,115682,115683],"class_list":["post-263753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-ailah-castro","tag-brianna-amey","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-environmental-research","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-nys-department-of-environmental-conservation","tag-student-science-grant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}